To take advantage of opportunities/solve problems, the need for a greater than local/cross-boundary approach can be seen. Regional cooperation is the nominal tool, yet the goal is to be greater; have greater capacity, resources, market,…. Greater is regional; working across boundaries achieves it. Cooperation is possible when people recognize such regional community. This is regional intelligence: Greater Communities solving problems, of which security is foremost; altogether “community motive.”

Blaine County's commissioners and the mayors of the county's five cities took the first steps Friday toward forming a regional planning organization.

Usually called councils of government, or COGs for short, such organizations have become common in many states, including Idaho. The local organization has been named the Blaine Regional Leadership Council.

During a summit meeting Friday, April 20, at the Old Blaine County Courthouse, attended by about 30 people, Ketchum City Administrator Ron LeBlanc said regional planning organizations address a wide variety of issues, including transportation, clean water, housing, public safety and agency services. County Commissioner Tom Bowman mentioned highway planning, flood control and the airport as issues of local importance. Ketchum Mayor Randy Hall added KART and fire department consolidation.

"The county is behind regional cooperation to get things done, " Bowman said.

The leadership council is envisioned as a means of coordinating plans, rather than as a decision-making body. Meeting participants agreed that decisions requiring expenditures of money would have to be referred to the various city councils and to the County Commission.

….

One regional planning body cited as an example for Blaine County was the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, which includes the mountain resort towns of Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge. In interviews with the Mountain Express, several of the people involved with that organization cited its effectiveness.

Among other things, the group has addressed water distribution and planning for Interstate 70, obtained grants for home insulation and small business startups, and prompted the introduction of federal legislation to combat mountain pine beetle infestation. …

… Vancouver Island Health Authority’s plan to build a new regional hospital at Dove Creek to serve Campbell River and the Comox Valley.

“If we all join together on this extremely important issue we can make a difference and make sure North Island people get the best health care possible, ” Jarvis said.

She said the proposed regional hospital is not acceptable because it’s too far away.

“This is definitely not the kind of health care delivery we want to see for the residents of the North Island, ” she said. “The lives of people will be placed at greater risk because of the extra distance.

“The extra distance could result in permanent damage or even be fatal.”

She said the distance will also discourage volunteers from spending time at the new hospital and will also likely discourage financial donations by the ladies’ auxiliary, which has contributed to to the Campbell River Hospital for decades. Jarvis helped start the First Open Heart Society in Campbell River, which has helped heart patients and helped the hospital with donations for many years.

Jarvis was one of five speakers at the meeting, which attracted an audience of about 100. The keynote speaker, Dr. Trina Larsen Soles, traveled from Golden, B.C. to speak about the pros and cons of regionalization, the trend of grouping communities in regions to share health care services, specialists and costs.

“I don’t think regionalization is inherently bad – I think the way we’ve done it has been short-sighted, ” she said. “I think one of the problems is our regions are too big.”

Soles said that B.C. has five health regions compared to Nova Scotia’s 15. B.C.’s health regions are too big and require a big bureaucracy to operate, she said, and big bureaucracy overlooks the needs of small communities.

One of the most damaging practices in state government is the centralization of state resources. It remains a minor problem in the good economic years, but in difficult times and budgets, it is devastating. The scenario goes like this:

1. State departments and divisions are asked to cut back jobs.

2. Sometimes there are vertical cuts with loss of entire programs. More commonly those in control make horizontal cuts that impact the entire department with offices across the state.

3. The end result of centralization is the loss of state jobs in rural areas as jobs and duties are consolidated into centralized regional locations.

In countries such as Canada regionalization is already identified as a major problem for rural areas. This is a common practice in business, where a competitive edge is necessary and the movement of employees has few consequences. However, continued movement of state jobs and employees to more urban areas contributes to progressive decline in rural economics, population, and services. In health care the difficulties mount when you consider the critical mass of physicians needed to sustain a hospital, or to support each other for call. Beyond a 4 primary care doctor (usually FP) threshold, this is difficult.

THIS NEWSPAPER HAS LONG supported regionalism and its first cousins -- cooperation and collaboration -- within Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties. We've interchangeably called the region mid-Michigan, the Tri-Counties and the Saginaw Valley for ages.

A new round of discussions about branding the region as one, seeded by Dow Chemical Co., took off last week as more leaders and residents within the "Tris" come to the conclusion that we need to work together to survive.

Given the times and challenges, as we've pointed out consistently in this space, territorial turf wars are counterproductive to the region's economic growth and quality of life.

A strong region offers the best path for attracting and retaining the talent and the jobs that lift everyone's standard of living. Each community has something unique to offer potential employers and residents.

Yet making it happen will require more than the region's leaders joining hands and singing "Kumbaya." That's where Dow and its interests in a strong region entered the dance. The Midland-based chemical giant hired the Global Environment & Technology Foundation, an Arlington, Va.-based outfit, to find out if there is sufficient interest and eagerness among business and community leaders in Bay, Midland and Saginaw counties to work together. …

After serving almost one year as mayor of Waukesha and attending two Milwaukee 7 meetings, it is clear to me that there are unique and historic opportunities for regional cooperation for southeastern Wisconsin. The two issues that cry out for a 21st century new vision are water and transportation. I believe they are key for both economic development and real regional cooperation.

Most people know that the City of Waukesha is seriously investigating whether Great Lakes water is our best long-term water source. Few know the fact that in the last 19 years, while our city has grown 17 percent, our water use has actually gone down 25 percent.

...

Waukesha is also studying whether return flow to a Great Lakes tributary like the Root or Menomonee River can be done in an environmentally positive way for the river, the Great Lakes and southeastern Wisconsin. If we eventually do decide to apply for a Great Lakes diversion, our goal would be to submit a role model application that would prevent 98 percent of the world from access to Great Lakes water. It would set a high standard of conservation and return flow that other communities in eligible counties would have to follow.

In this scenario, if we were able to negotiate with the City of Milwaukee for the purchase of water after a successful Great Lakes application, we could accomplish an historic win-win solution for both our cities and the region. It would be a stark contrast to the water and annexation fights that former Mayor Frank Ziedler outlined in his book on local government and the antiquated conflicts that have historically been the norm.

Once we can envision regional cooperation on water, the next logical issue would be addressing the long needed action on transportation.

George Jackson, president Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said today he's encouraged that Michigan's sacred cows of unions, public schools and suburban-city cooperation were finally being openly discussed.

Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos took a knife to those cows in the same conversation this morning. He called for Michigan to be a right-to-work state, said Detroit and its suburbs should form a regional school district and public safety service, and even called out Detroit lawyers who drive foreign cars.

"Anyone who lives in West Bloomfield and thinks they are not part of Detroit lacks brains, " he said at the Michigan Chronicle's Pancakes & Politics breakfast.

Karmanos said the decision to move his technology company's headquarters from Farmington Hills to downtown Detroit proved to be a wise one, and he said others have and will join him in efforts to revitalize the city.

Jurisdictions across the nation offer such inducements, which include tax abatement, land acquisition, construction subsidies, training subsidies, and outright cash grants. …

It’s hard to get a precise total of the dollars involved, but almost every major business relocation in the South is accompanied by a cornucopia of publicly funded grants, despite ample evidence that the subsidies have little impact on corporate site selection. Other regions of the nation, especially ones experiencing protracted economic downturns, are increasingly emulating the South. The politicians involved rarely consider broader tax and regulatory changes that would make their states more attractive to all businesses, outside and homegrown.

“Historically, the South has always led in offering incentives, ” Holladay says. “Other regions—particularly the Midwest, which is suffering through recession—are becoming more aggressive. I’m talking about Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. But the most aggressive states are still in the South, along with border states such as Kentucky.” The South also offers the most inventive subsidies, he adds. “In Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky, ” he says, “officials are now calculating what a new business would pay in unemployment taxes and giving that to companies as a cash bonus. That shifts the burden to other employers in the state.”

Look Away, DixielandThe National Association of Economic Development Agencies compiles and analyzes information on relocation incentives. Its president, Miles Friedman, says it’s difficult to make broad state-to-state comparisons due to the variety of incentives and the different types of organizations involved. Nonetheless, he says, “it’s accurate to conclude that the South has the widest array of incentives and Southern states are the most experienced and aggressive in offering them. In dollar terms, the South leads.”

Public bankrolling of private companies has been an American staple for more than 200 years. …

Counties surrounding Knoxville, Tenn., often competed to recruit the same large business developments.

That was about five years ago, before a regional partnership effort took hold.

Leaders from Knoxville visited Lenoir on Thursday to explain the successes they’ve enjoyed to an audience of about 150 business and government people from the four-county Hickory area.

The Knoxville folks said there were difficulties in getting various counties and cities to buy into the concept initially. But now, Knoxville leaders see the value in the saying, “A rising tide raises all ships.”

A local group of education, business and government leaders saw the benefits during a tour of Knoxville in October.

Some of the successes include a new jobs creation program termed JobsNow!

The effort includes financial contributions from several counties and cities in the Knoxville area.

In five years, JobsNow! has created more than 20, 000 jobs, increased wages and helped spur $2.5 billion in capital investments.

The morning meeting at the J.E. Broyhill Center, which lasted more than three hours, was time well-spent, according to David Horn, chairman of the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce.

Stories of richer counties investing in surrounding counties for economic development purposes made an impression, he said.

“It is important that we not try to gain at someone else’s expense, ” he said. “We need to work to identify how the region can promote itself.”

Danny Hearn, president of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce, said surveys dispersed Thursday to those in attendance will help set the course as the chamber moves forward with promoting regionalism. That could entail one Hickory region branding effort or pooled economic development resources.

The idea may have worked if county officials had come up with a way to get horses to eat less food.

But horses being the way they are, the McKinley County Commission agreed Tuesday to drop the idea of a horse preserve here.

The idea was first brought up several years ago by Patricia Lundstrom, director of the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments.

She had been getting phone calls, she said, from people upset about all of the abandoned horses in the area. At the same time, she had been hearing of reports of other areas in the nation setting up horse preserves and making it profitable.

So she wondered if a horse preserve would work in McKinley County. The state provided some money for a feasibility study and the county set up a horse preserve task force to look at the idea. She thought it also might become a tourist attraction, as it was in other parts of the country.

But Evan Williams, a planner for the Council of Governments, said the feasibility study indicated a horse preserve would cost more to operate than it would bring in. So unless the county could get some state grants or figure out some way to subsidize it, the idea wasn't feasible.

Billy Moore, chairman of the commission, said Wednesday he was skeptical about the idea from the beginning.

Taking care of horses, he said, can be expensive, considering feed bills and vet bills.

It takes, he said, about 40 acres of land to feed one horse per year. Otherwise, you have to purchase supplemental feed, and that becomes expensive.

The feasibility study came up with the annual operating cost for such a horse preserve here at about $302, 550 for the first year with projected revenues of about $35, 200. That's a $267, 350 loss just for the first year.

The study only projected $7, 500 from tourists paying a fee to tour the preserve and $16, 000 in souvenirs purchased at the gift shop.

The study pointed out that there would not be competition since the closest horse preserve to here is in Lompoc, Calif., some 900 miles away.

Then there's the land issue.

The only area that could feasibly work, commissioners said at Tuesday's meeting, was Fort Wingate.

The study said that the only way to make the project work was probably going the way of Lompoc, which is operated by a nonprofit organization called the Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary. It operates on a budget of about $755, 000 and raises much of its revenue from programs such as "Sponsor a Horse" or "Sponsor an Acre." In 2004, the organization had 22, 000 individual donors and raised $680, 000 toward the expenses.

The commissioners said, however, that the idea of a horse preserve probably would work here but left the door open in case some private individual or organization wanted to take up the cause.

Phil Evenson, executive director of the commission, said one rule is clear: There will be no politicking.

The county committee decided supervisors should not call the commission to try and sway how lines are drawn. All concerns will have to flow through the committee.

Voters on April 3 elected to downsize the Walworth County Board from 25 to 11 supervisors. Reducing the size by more than half will pit incumbents against incumbents during the 2008 election.

...

10. U.S. regional communities - sub-State, State or multi-State -in news articles. Highlighted words are Google search terms. In this and the following section, links to websites of organizations are added to the news excerpt when this is the first time an organization has been found. A goal of this newsletter is to find every regional council in the U.S. in a news story. In most cases, where a full name is present a Google search will quickly get one to that organization.

One Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville, Inc. have formed a partnership to cooperatively market the region and try to attract and retain businesses in the area. The two economic development organizations represent 25 counties on both sides of the Ohio River. …

.12Arkansas To Join Multistate Initiative For Two-Year CollegesSpringdale Morning News - Springdale, AR, USAArkansas has been invited to participate in "Achieving the Dream, " a program to help low-income and minority students in community colleges. ... Nine states already participate in the program. …

.13County approves intergovernmental agreementCrossville Chronicle - Crossville, TN, USAAfter tabling an intergovernmental agreement last month between the city of Crossville, Cumberland County and the E-911 district, members of the Cumberland ...

.14Study: Crime Rates Drop Across San DiegoNBC Sandiego-com - San Diego, CA, USAThe most common crime was theft, according to SANDAG, with one reported every 10 minutes last year. The report said almost half of those reported involved items taken from cars. Analysts for SANDAG credit community-oriented policing for the overall drop. …

Ozark Regional Transit faces a 30 percent loss of funding after the next census, so its board agreed to form a committee to address also the issue...

.16City looks beyond its boundariesModesto Bee - Modesto, CA, USA... Stanislaus Local Agency Formation Commission to approve the city's idea of where it should be able to expand. While council members have created a vision for growth, a "primary sphere of influence" defines where growth can take place. As plans unfold, LAFCO members will revisit the sphere when they consider future development. ...

.17Williamson Opens Regional Animal Control FacilityCBS 42 - Austin, TX, USA... regional animal shelter actually began operating five weeks ago, and in that short period of time, the $4-million-complex of kennels in Georgetown has been overrun with stray dogs and cats. ...

.18Public urged to help protect riverFall River Herald News - Fall River, MA, USA... "It's the community that will keep the river alive and stewardship that will keep the river alive, " he said.... Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District Environmental Program ...

.19Region signs on to Clean Cities programRome News-Tribune - Rome, GA, USAFresher air and a quicker exit from the federal Clean Air Act nonattainment list are the goals of a new initiative approved by the 10-county Coosa Valley Regional Development Center ...

.21Class Act: | Charlotte: A success storyCharlotte Observer - Charlotte, NC, USAGreater access to community resources and the community power structure is most apparent in our public education system, now one of the highest-performing ...

.22Some fire chiefs skeptical of mergerNorth County Times - Escondido, CA, USASeveral fire officials in North County said last week that they want to preserve the unique aspects of the institutions they have built up over the last few decades. That's why many of the backcountry fire departments targeted for consolidation into a new San Diego County regional fire agency say they want to be left out….

Governor Spitzer Monday signed an Executive Order creating the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, which will review ways that New York State’s over 4, 200 local governments can save taxpayer dollars and become more efficient by sharing services and undertaking regional collaboration. …

Fearing that the region is on the brink of disaster, nine suburban mayors will push for a new form of Cuyahoga County government that they say could save money and respond faster to the county's economic problems. …

.12National security 'needs a rethink'The Age - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"The priority should go to better training as this helps people to understand other agencies, work across boundaries and build strong networks."

.13MEP: Turkey's entry spells heavy burden on EUToday's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey"The accession of Turkey would increase the area of the EU-27 by 18.3 percent and its population by 14.7 percent, while it would decrease its per-capita GDP by 10.5 percent; whereas the accession of the other western Balkan states would increase the area of the EU-27 by 4.8 percent and its population by 4 percent, while it would decrease its per-capita GDP by 3.5 percent, " ...

Building up a team almost from scratch was a challenge that head of legal services of the North West Development Agency (NWDA) Steven Zdolyny has eagerly embraced. Since joining the agency in 2005, Zdolyny has spent the past two years recruiting a team of experienced lawyers to service the NWDA's increasing list of projects. …

.15EC US$48M grant for Caricom economic integrationStabroek News - Georgetown, Guyana... extra-regional markets; it represents the best way of replacing existing trade preferences that are coming to an end under WTO rules; and the commission...

Journalists' efforts to explain the Virginia Tech massacre perfectly illustrate one of the central points of an idiosyncratically brilliant new book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable …

The Georgian Regional Development and Public Accountability project, initiated in 2004, is an example of what the European Commission has instituted in Georgia. The project consisted of an investigation of regional media followed by the selection of five newspapers from different regions which received financial support and training. …

Gates elaborated on his positive belief by pointing out that Microsoft built its very first research centre in Asia virtually a decade ago (today there are 20), and now finds itself investing the best part of 60 percent of its entire research and development budget in the region.…

As countries in the region move toward integration, they should rely on their economic and social diversity to forge multi-pronged agreements. That was one of the main points in the annual report on regional cooperation and integration (RCI) ...

.24New threats to globalisationOn Line opinion - AustraliaBut this engagement and integration also requires the consent of governments. And what governments give they (or subsequent governments) may also take away. ...

BEIJING, April 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) today unveiled a new commitment to help close the digital divide by creating new products and programs that will help bring social and economic opportunity to the estimated 5 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology. …

Bethlehem Township Manager Jon Hammer is a good guy. He is not a bad writer, either. The problem is, he didn't write a newspaper column in The Morning Call on April 14; he wrote a tall tale.

He takes over a suburban township with tons of farmland and a brand new highway running through it. The value of that land skyrockets, thanks to all of the region's taxpayers who paid for that highway. Developers of all stripes flock to the township. The township's zoning ordinance makes sure that high-density housing that is affordable for regular folks can't be built. So, huge amounts of tax dollars start to flow and precious few services are needed by the residents with their well-above-average incomes.

Then Jon writes something along the lines of, ''So, what's the matter with you cities for not being just like us?'' Well, where do I start?

First, Jon, cities and boroughs were developed in the days when the automobile wasn't so ubiquitous. High-density housing was built so that folks could walk to work, or maybe take the trolley. Consequently, today, most of the region's low-income housing is in the cities and, to a lesser extent, the boroughs.

…

.11So I Have A Map….Now What?By Eric Schultheis The state appropriation committee pushed through a new $30 million fund to subsidize the construction of new supermarkets in the region. The chair of the committee reported that he “already knew that there was a problem” but “the map just ...

.12What must we learn?By Susan I had the privilege today of listening to knowledgeable and accomplished business leaders talk about the opportunities and challenges of regional economic development in southeast Wisconsin. As is probably true for most economic regions ...

.13Silicon Valley Re-bootingBy Panagiotis Tsarchopoulos The world is spiked - Click to enlarge The 2007 Index of Silicon Valley introduces the idea that “The World is Spiked” meaning that although the global competitive field is “flattening”1 regions still vary by their relative strengths ...

.14Are People Fleeing the Pittsburgh Region?By Harold D. Miller(Harold D. Miller) Although the data show that the Pittsburgh Region had net domestic outmigration over the past 6 years, we’re not alone. In fact, the majority of the top 40 metro regions in the country had more US citizens move out than move in during ...

.15Silicon Valley Re-bootingBy Panagiotis Tsarchopoulos The world is spiked - Click to enlarge The 2007 Index of Silicon Valley introduces the idea that “The World is Spiked” meaning that although the global competitive field is “flattening”1 regions still vary by their relative strengths ...

.16Linden announces estate governance changesBy Siobhan Taylor On their own region, it depends on the offense. For example: All fraud tickets would still come to Linden Lab. Same with Under Age Tickets. If he’s assaulting someone on his region, he has the right to do so, it’s his.“ ...

Note: Regional issues in virtual worlds. Ed

.17Transatlantic GeometryBy Trachtman report from the Atlantic Council ... something that might be modeled on APEC "open regionalism": like-mined countries agreeing on deeper liberalization, but extending it on an MFN basis. ...

Connecting Water Supply and Growth "In 2005, the Florida Legislature recognized that it was critical to strengthen the link between land use and water supply planning. Building upon the water management districts’ regional water supply plan efforts, ...

.19Seeking regional solutionsBusiness in the Burbs - White Plains, NY, USAWith that in mind, groups of businesspeople in Westchester and Putnam counties and neighboring Fairfield County, Conn., are exploring regional growth ...

.20WorldmapperBy stephen In these regions most territories reported some book borrowing. In other regions reported book borrowing was lower, and many territories reported very little borrowing. Where many people cannot afford books, it appears they often cannot ...

.22New BlogBy Scott Hutcheson Much of my economic development work is with the Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD). I have decided to start a PCRD blogwhere I can write about regional economic development. I just launched it yesterday. ...

.23Chicago Olympics could mean more Amtrak linesBy Johnruexp Wisconsin is backing the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, a $7.7 billion plan for a nine-state network of fast, frequent trains, including the Milwaukee-to-Madison line; new 110-mph service between Milwaukee and Green Bay; ...

.26A Case of the Mondays: Jane JacobsBy Alon Levy The second, Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984), takes the idea to the next level and talks about broader city regions, inter-city trade, the rise and fall of cities' economies, and cities in relation to nations. ...

.28Glaeser on Housing Supply Limits and Regional Growth TrendsBy Matthew E. Kahn(Matthew E. Kahn) As we watch northeasters chill marathon runners, global warming starts looking less like the environmental crisis that it is and more like a good regional development strategy. This winter that would not end seems to explain the new ...

.29Flattening Training: Consolidating Three Regional CurriculaBy Marci Paino Describe the model an organization can use to combine regional curriculums. Utilize the model through practice with a case study. Evaluate the challenges in combining curriculums. Assess the use of a third party to facilitate all or ...

.30This post is dedicated to aspects of what is alwaysBy Colin(Colin) This post is dedicated to aspects of what is always labelled ‘nationalism’ here in Spain but might sometimes better be called ‘regionalism’. It all rather depends on whether independence is part of the package demanded by any particular ...

A “social capital” reading list from Robert D. Putnam, author of “Bowling Alone.”

“Of all the dimensions along which forms of social capital vary, perhaps the most important is the distinction between bridging (or inclusive) and bonding (or exclusive). Some forms of social capital are, by choice or necessity, inward looking and tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups. Examples of bonding social capital include ethnic fraternal organizations, church-based women's reading groups, and fashionable country clubs. Other networks are outward looking and encompass people across diverse social cleavages. Examples of bridging social capital include the civil rights movement, many youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations. “ [and organizations of organizations larger area problem solving, e.g. regional. Putnam, in a BookTV interview spoke about his research in Italy where he found those regions which were more prosperous had higher levels of bridging social capital. Ed.]

Amy Bunton is responsible for overseeing the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) effort to support existing businesses and industry in job creation and capital investment. The TVA is the public power provider for a seven state region in the Southeast. Last year it directly contributed to the recruitment or retention of 52, 000 jobs in the region. She is the incoming president of Business Retention Expansion International (BREI), a non-profit association of economic development professionals who are working for the advancement of business retention and expansion as an economic development strategy for communities.

Terry Dickey, Director of Economic Development for the Cincinnati USA Partnership, will present a win-win approach to business retention by the use of their Regional Business Retention Committee who meets with 300-400 companies annually within the Cincinnati USA region.

Joseph McClure will demonstrate how a rural area incorporated volunteers into a program known as Business Expansion and Retention or BEAR that has evolved into a three-tier network of volunteers.

For more information email Peggy Tadej at tadej@narc.org or call 202.986.1032 ext. 224.

Other menu sections available from this link include: Regional Development; Regional Council; Regional Commission; Regional America; Regional Asia; Regional Europe; Regional Competition; Regionalism; Intergovernmentaland other search terms. They can be sorted by date or relevance. These are among the 50 search terms I use to produce this newsletter.

My name is Tom Christoffel. I've worked in the field of intergovernmental cooperation since 1973. As a consequence, "I see regions work." Regional Community Development News is published weekly based on news reports as of Wednesday.

Making visible analysis and actions at multi-jurisdictional regional scales is its purpose. "Think globally, act locally" was innovative in its time. Today the local scale is often too small to address today's needs and opportunities. "Think local planet, act regionally, " is my candidate paradigm. (No one said we're only allowed one paradigm.)

We can see that “regional communities” are organized locally and now act both to avoid tragedy in the commons and gain benefits. An effective multi-jurisdictional regional community has DNA: it is geographically Defined; has a common Name and its Alignment is inclusive of smaller communities and participatory in larger communities. So, by scanning this compilation, reading articles and checking organizations - you too will be able to see the regional communities that already exist.

News references are found using the Google News search service. Media article links are “fair use” to transform globally scattered reports to make regional approaches visible. Links go to the publisher and do not compete with it. Such publishers are likely to have related stories and thus be seen by new customers. “Regional” is an emerging news category. There is no charge for this service and no profit is made from its use, though any user can become more aware of the topic itself.

The system is based on a geocode scheme set up for earth that focuses on established political boundaries as a basis for regional grouping of nations, states and localities. It is decimal system based to take advantage of the sort criteria for numbers in computers. It utilized the Sector Group and Region codes of the United Nations and ISO. Geographic information system technology does not solve the problem, but its tools can be used with the geocodes.

The geocode system effectively organizes Wikipedia entries as a library management and the geocodes can be used for data aggregation. This has been developed under a Creative Commons license and would benefit from a global network implementation where local users cooperatively related subnational geographic regions and component political geography.

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Earth ( we know its a spherical whole)

Humanity's Local Planet

Universe Man at the Boundary

Local Planet - Regional Space

Our Local Planet has systems of Political Geographies which combine as Regional/Greater Communities

Universe Man's place on earth is local and regional silmultaneously depending upon the system of regions, sub-regions of the planet as local wholes: continents, nations, states, provinces, districts, counties, shires, municipalities. etc., which have local regions within and between them which are capable of being greater communities at many scales.

Based on my experience as a regional planner and agency director, 1973 -2008, and in recognition of emerging "regional communities," I developed three thoughts about community that relate to the challenge of working across-boundaries as greater or regional communities. The thoughts/theses apply for communities at the scale of bonding or bridging social capital as defined by Robert D. Putnam, which is alternately local or regional. (link below)

As of 2011, considering the global financial crisis brought about by pursuit of the "profit motive," it struck me that this has come to dominate modern life. This is a relatively new invention of civilization and wasn't a concern for most of the time that homo sapiens has been on the planet.

The three thoughts below that had emerged in my experience of working on regional cooperation now represent what I now posit as the "community motive." Concern about "profit" can emerge within an established community over time, but, to my mind the "profit motive" does not exist in the wild.

1) Community precedes cooperation.2) Community is how life solves all problems.3) Security is the primary purpose of community.

These three thoughts, theses if you will, are the basis of the "community motive." Following is some exposition about each one.

As I see it, security has always been the priority for humans since the plains of Africa. That's why communities first seek to establish defensible boundaries. After the basics are in place, security focus shifts to the social and economic. Boundaries work like the membrane in the osmosis experiment most of us have seen in a science class. The membrane is a filter that lets the good things pass through, but keeps unwanted things out. (Osmosis -YouTube - 45 sec.)

The evolved political boundaries of today have consequence. The rules change when you cross them. Though marked on the ground and fortified in some instances, they are conceptual, as pictured above, with Universe Man. The boundary divides the space between local, that within, and regional, everything outside, as labeled in the second panel. The third panel repeats the image within, to show, without graphic elegance, that the land on which Universe Man sits is regional at another scale, as determined by other boundaries, and another area that's local. A territory is both local and regional, depending upon the perspective.

Communities of communities, “regional communities” are greater communities organized to solve a problem, be it managing a watershed, strengthening an economic cluster or ensuring peer competition for school sports. Regional boundaries can be imposed for administrative purposes within states, but for these to be a basis for effective cooperation, a greater community sense is needed for that geography among the people. This is true for multi-state and multi-national regional communities as well. The leaders with such a vision can build a regional community by finding that which is already in place.

This is not to suggest that community is easy to build in order to solve problems. In a crisis, humans of any culture, belief or politics can quickly come together and self-organize to save themselves and others. It was the on-the- ground response to the 9/11 attacks that demonstrated to me the deep responsiveness of human community, as well as the fundamental importance of security. Community is how humans have always survived. This, I think, extends to all life forms.